


Wings Only

by sapphireeaglequill



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alola-chihou | Alola Region (Pokemon), Gen, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon Headcanon, Pokemon Trainers, Pokemon are wild animals with human-level intelligence that can sometimes be domesticated, Possessive Behavior
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:07:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28723332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphireeaglequill/pseuds/sapphireeaglequill
Summary: Some Trainers are Type Specialized, like Lana or my mother Olivia. Others have themes, like Melissa and I.Lana says that I'm obsessed with the sky like she is the ocean. I don't know if this is right, but Melissa looked panicked when she said this.I didn't like that.And now we're starting our Island Challenge, and I'll use this. I'll prove to her that I won't leave her behind and fly into the sun. Because Melissa is my rock and my feathers.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Kudos: 1





	Wings Only

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. At all. Only my OCs.  
> \--  
> This has been brewing in my Google Drive, so I decided to post it. Hope you like it.

_ Giggling road on the wind, following after me as I dove, pulling my wings in close as I plummeted to the ground.  _

_ Gleeful laughter sounded as I pulled up just an inch from the ground, barely missing a tree as I climbed the sky with furious beats of my wings. I saw a flash of something… pink in the air as I flew up, but I didn’t pay it any mind.  _

_ I gave a victorious cry as a sparkling wind carried me, directing me towards the ocean for another dive. I accepted the challenge.  _

_ As I dove, the voice gave an annoyed… something. Something between a wine and a growl. And then I heard it too.  _

_ “Lani!” _

_ I focused my eyes on the rippling ocean tides, trying to push past that familiar voice. But I couldn’t.  _

_ “Lani! La-” _

“-ni! Lani! Kalani! Wake up already!”

I jolted awake at the gruff, feminine voice yelling at me from below. Rubbing my head and blinking the sand from my eyes, I looked down at the base of the tree I had been napping in. My friend, Melissa, was standing there with a disgruntled expression on her face, looking for all the world like she wanted to punch me. But I could see her rosewood eyes, and they expressed her worry and concern for me. Sure there was some anger in there as well, but not as much as what was on her face. 

Smiling at her and I waved down to her silently, watching her huff and point to the ground with a furious expression on her face. I giggled a bit at that before collecting myself and… jumping. After all, it was only about four meters or so, just about the height of a one-story house. No big deal. (Though Melissa did scream a bit. You would think she would be used to this by now.)

Landing with a roll before smoothly standing up, I gave a closed-eyed smile to my taller friend to calm her as she began to fuss over me. I giggled a bit at my friend. For a teenage girl who fancies herself a punk, she sure was overprotective of those she cared about.  _ Though _ , I thought, looking Melissa over with cerulean eyes.  _ She does have the looks department down, if not the personality.  _

And it was true, as the rosewood eyed teenager had a punk-rock mixed with the islander style. Melissa kept her strawberry pink hair in a messy bob cut that she mostly kept covered with her white and black ballcap. She wore a studded purple/black denim vest over a black tank top and white jean shorts. The look was finished off with the black hiker books, two grey leather belts crossing her waist, and the studded leather bracelets covering her forearms. Though I liked that she was wearing the Murkrow feather earring I had made for her on her right ear lobe. 

It made me a bit self-conscious about my own style at times. I am a girl after all, and I can’t escape from being self-conscious about my image and how others perceive me, no matter how much I pretend to not care. But I was confident in the practicality of my outfit, with my brown, fitted bomber jacket over my blue, grey, and teal tie-dye tank top and my grey skinny jeans tucked into my brown riding boots. The shoulders and arms of my jacket were reinforced for any claws or teeth I might encounter, and I was wearing some black leather wrapping on my forearms for extra protection. My riding goggles (with transition lenses) were hung around my neck. The choker that Melissa had made for me was wrapped around my neck, the dawn stone sparkly lightly. My long, wavy purple/graphite hair hung loosely as the blue, pink, silver, and gold beads clicked together with my every movement as the Archen feathers weaved into my hair fluttered lightly in the breeze. 

And speaking of Archen feathers…

A screech sounded as my own Archen glided down from the tree we had been napping in, nearly knocking Melissa in the head with his wing if she hadn’t ducked. Though he did manage to catch her hat and send it flying, though it didn’t get far. Melissa’s Rockruff caught it without trouble, trotting up to her Trainer and pawing at her leg while my Archen landed on my shoulder. I gave a soft giggle as my friend took her hat back from her enthusiastic puppy Pokemon. 

“Yes, yes, thank you Takkā.” She said to her Rockruff, giving her a pat on the head before standing and fixing her cap on her head. Her rosewood eyes fixed my Archen with a glare, but he just stared back at her with an equally heavy stare, clearly not impressed. Realizing this and hearing my soft giggling, Melissa focused her attention on me. “Please try to teach your Pokemon to not mess with my hat. This is the third time this week that Umō has knocked my hat off, and it isn’t even Wednesday yet.” I just giggled a bit at her somewhat desperate expression. “I make no promises,” I replied in my soft soprano voice, watching Melissa’s eyes soften a bit. Oh, that’s right. I hadn’t actually spoken in front of her in the past… has it been two weeks? Oh well, it's not important. 

Well, maybe not for me, but it had clearly affected Melissa cause she hugged me tightly just after I thought that. Giving me a tight squeeze, while avoiding Umō’s beak/jaws, she nodded to herself and held me at arm’s length. “Well, then,” she started, her voice strangely hoarse, “let’s get back to Konokoni, alright? Your mom will be wanting to see you again before we head off.” I nodded to her, knowing that she was right, but I also shook my head and pointed towards the shoreline. I could practically see the gears in Melissa’s head-turning as she tried to decipher what I was trying to say. Giving a soft giggle, I looked into her eyes before pointing towards the shore again, then one of the pink beads in my hair, before placing my hands together in a praying gesture. Her eyes practically lit up when she saw that. “Oh, you want to go say goodbye to Tapu Lele at their shrine?” I nodded and gave Melissa a happy smile, glad that she understood me. Though it wasn’t all that surprising that she did, as we had known each other since I moved to Akala Island when I was eight years old. 

I started to reminisce about it as the gruff girl took my hand and started to guide me through the tall grass down to the shoreline that connected Memorial Hill to the Akala Outskirts. Smiling gently at the back of her head, I remembered our first meeting… it hadn’t gone very well… 

We had met here, on Memorial Hill, coincidentally. Melissa had just lost her parents and would visit her parents’ graves here every weekend, and still does. I had only just moved in with my mother after the accident that killed my father and permanently scared my neck and vocal cords. I had started visiting Memorial Hill to mourn my father, even though he was buried on Poni Island and wasn’t there. Melissa had noticed me wandering around the gravesites as if looking for my father’s grave in vain and had tried to talk to me then, but my vocal cords hadn’t healed at all at that point so I couldn’t talk back to her and was too nervous to try other types of communication. It had aggravated the other girl and she started to harass me, trying to get me to talk to her or to just make a sound in general. I had tried my best to avoid her, though that had just made her more persistent and determined to get me to speak. I eventually got fed up with her and tried to scream at her to leave me alone, but that only caused me to let out a hoarse wheeze and break down into a violent coughing fit. It had obviously shocked and terrified Melissa, but she had bravely pushed through it and even carried me to Konikoni City’s Pokemon Center to get me looked at. I then had to explain to her about my damaged vocal cords and the scar on my neck that I had been hiding with a choker, through the writing of course, as I got a strict no-talking order from the Doctor that took care of me. 

I had thought that Melissa would have left me alone after that but… she didn’t. 

She became my best friend and confidant after that, always trying to take care of me and support me the best she can. Melissa helped me develop self-confidence in myself and helped me believe that I wasn’t limited by my weak vocal cords. Though, I did feel bad for her at times, having to deal with some of my antics. The first time she found me sleeping in a tree she had screamed so loud that it had woken me up and attracted some Zubat. And that other time that she found me on Hano Beach after learning about my disappearing act that morning. Oh, Melissa had been so angry and dumbfounded to learn that I had simply been following an interesting cloud and had somehow ended up at the Hano Great Resort somehow. Hmm… Maybe that’s why she became so overprotective and overbearing… Melissa did start calling me an “Air-Head” or “Ditz” after that… I can’t really deny it…

I was pulled out of my thoughts as we reached the shoreline and began walking the path through the Akala Outskirts. I began to pull ahead of Melissa the closer we got to the Ruins of Life, hearing the winds and giggling from my dream echoing in my ears. Letting go of her hand as I entered the cave, as I knew that Melissa didn’t like going in there, I nodded to her as she told me that she would be waiting for me outside of the Ruins when I was done. 

I knelt before the altar, Umō glided off of my shoulder to sit beside me while releasing my other Pokemon. From my Friend Ball came my Castform, Huan, and my Golbat, Kuchi, came out of my Dusk Ball. They knew where they were almost immediately, as I always had them with me when I visited the Ruins of Life to pay Tapu Lele a visit. Huan settled down on my right shoulder as Kuchi perched himself next to Umō on my left, as always. 

Smiling as I adjusted my position a bit, I got ready to pray when I noticed something… odd… Looking up, I almost fell over as Umō and Kuchi got in front of me while Huan floated over my head. All around us, sparkling… scales… floated down from the ceiling and I could see the shadowed form of a Pokemon floating in a circle around us, seemingly the source of the scales. But before we could do anything, something else fell from the ceiling that wasn’t a scale. Umō caught it before it could land in my lap, placing it in my hand as the scales stopped falling and the shadowed Pokemon disappeared. My eyes widened as I looked at the Sparkling Stone in my hand as it gave a distinctively pink gleam. 

Quickly getting back into a kneeling position and placing the sparkling stone in between my hands as I prayed, I thanked the Guardian Pokemon of Akala for this gift and told them that I was leaving to begin my Island Challenge today with my friends, my Pokemon, and Melissa. We all heard the resounding giggle that echoed through the cave and all of us, including Umō and Huan, paled and quickly exited the Ruins to find Melissa and show her the gift I had gotten from Island Deity. Though I don’t think any of us liked how the Guardian’s giggle followed us out of the cave. 

* * *

Melissa watched as her best friend entered the Ruins of Life with a displeased look. She never liked this place and didn’t understand how Kalani and her mother could feel so at ease here. But then again, the teen thought with a tilt of her head, the both of them seemed to inspire chaos of some kind just by existing… Maybe that’s why they like it here. 

Kalani herself seemed to be the personification of the sayings “the calm before the storm” and “the eye of the storm”. No one ever suspects that some innocent and dorky looking petite girl could cause enough mind breaking chaos to cause mental breakdowns in adults when she was only eleven years old too. Not to mention, Kalani’s battling style was brutal and completely unexpected for someone who acts so innocent and airheaded. Melissa knew that it wasn’t all an act, but she did think it was an effective strategy in battle. 

And Kalani’s mother, Olivia, was a totally different kind of chaos. Olivia was genuinely, extremely clumsy to the point that one could say that she was the personification of the saying “tauros in a tea shop” or “a spinda in heels”. The chaos she creates is completely unintentional, while Kalani’s chaos was only partially unintentional, not completely. 

Melissa sighed, causing Takkā and her Eevee, Kurai, to look up at her questioningly. She gave them a small smile before looking back towards the cave entrance of the Ruins of Life, hearing the two of them huff at her in understanding, knowing that their trainer had never been comfortable around the Ruins no matter how much she wanted to be able to escort her friend through them. 

They knew that their Trainer felt like she was going back on her vow, though they didn’t believe that she was. 

Melissa’s vow was how Takkā had come into her care. Their Trainer had vowed to Kalani’s mother, the Kahuna of Akala Island, Olivia, that she would be her daughter’s best friend, confidant, protector, and support for as long as Kalani would want her around. Olivia had responded by giving Melissa Takkā’s Nest Ball and telling her to be true with a small smile and soft dark grey eyes. Of course, Kalani herself and her Pokemon don’t know this, and Melissa and her own Pokemon planned to keep it that way. 

Takkā and Kurai perked up with their Trainer as they saw Kalani and her Pokemon exist in the cave and come running up to Melissa. “Hey, hey,” Melissa said, catching her friend as she collided with her. “What’s up? Did something happen?” She asked as Kalani pulled away from her, trying to keep her blush off her face as she searched the surrounding area for anything that could have spooked her quiet friend. Kalani shook her head, spending her hair flying and reminding Melissa to remind the other girl to put her headscarf on when they got to her house, before showing her what she had clenched in her hand. Melissa’s eyes widened at the Sparkling Stone in her friend’s hand, gaping openly at it before grabbing her friend’s other hand and began to drag her towards the Akala Outskirts. “We’re going to your mother!”

Melissa could hear the giggle that Kalani gave out as well as the sound of her recalling her Castform, Huan, into their Poke Ball. She knows that she had signed up to become her friend’s guardian, but she hadn’t signed up to become her babysitter!

* * *

Immediately after we got home and showed my mom the Sparkling Stone, she grabbed it and dashed into her workshop with a gleeful laugh. I giggled at Melissa’s expression when my mom did that. I wonder why she looked so betrayed? 

It took two hours or so, and we were now late to our meet up, but Olivia eventually finished my Z-Ring and gave me a Rockium Z before sending us off with a shove. During those two hours, Melissa and I had collected our gear and necessities into your backpacks and I found my grey and pink headscarf and let Melissa tie it for me. My Z-Ring looked like my mom’s but instead of the usual grey and black beads, mine had pink and green ones. How sweet. 

Melissa and I had to rush through Route 9 and Diglett’s Tunnel with how late we were. We made sure to have our battle oriented Pokemon out with us the entire way for when we encountered wild Pokemon while on our way. I had my Archen, Umō, and Golbat, Kuchi, out while my Castform, Huan, hung back in their Friend Ball since he didn’t have the speed to keep up with our pace. Melissa had her Rockruff, Takkā, Eevee, Kurai, and Haunter, Itazura, out while keeping her Ariados, Ilapa, in her Nest Ball because they would be slowed down if Melissa had to carry her. We got through the Route and Tunnel surprisingly fast with our teamwork and were able to shorten the trip down from one hour to twenty minutes. 

We were both exhausted when we got to Heahea City, though we did have the presence of mind to put away all of our Pokemon and head over to the Pokemon Center to get them healed, get a drink and some beans from the cafe, and meet up with Lana. Like always, I took our Pokemon over to Nurse Joy while Melissa got our drinks, beans, and other supplies from the Cafe and PokeMarket. 

Heahea’s Nurse Joy knows the two of us by now and struck up a conversation with me. “Hello there, Kalani. Did you and Melissa run here again? You two look pretty tired.” I nodded to her while sorting our Pokemon into two trays for her, giving her a small smile as she took my tray first. “You two are supposed to meet up with Lana today, right? To take the ferry over to Melemele Island?” She asked as she placed my Dusk, Nest, and Friend Ball on the healing-machine-thing. I don’t really understand what it is. I hummed an affirmative as I watched Kuchi, Umō, and Huan appeared and disappeared from the screen. When she collected my Poke Balls and turned back to me, I nodded to her again before gesturing towards the tables near the Cafe then to the island challenge amulet hanging from the front strap of my grey backpack and held out my hand in a number two gesture. Nurse Joy’s face lit up at that and started to giggle as she gave me back my Poke Balls and grabbed Melissa’s to repeat the process. “Oh, this is wonderful! Kalani and Melissa are going to Melemele to start their Island Challenge! This must mean that the two of you are sixteen now, yes? Those are the rules after all, and your mother is the Kahuna of Akala. She definitely wouldn’t let the two of you go off on your own until you were the minimum age. And- oh… It seems like just yesterday that you two were running in here with an injured Eevee and Zubat held in your tiny arms...” I nodded along with her with a mock-serious face, causing her giggling to intensify as she turned around to give me Melissa’s Dusk Balls. I released Huan to float around me as I accepted my friend’s Pokemon from Nurse Joy, causing another happy giggle from the woman as Huan seemed to dance above my head. 

“Oh and don’t worry, I haven’t seen Lana today. I’m sure she’ll be here soon if it’s close to your meeting time.” Giving her a brilliant smile and a quiet “Alola”, I moved towards the Cafe section of the Pokemon Center and chose our usual table. Melissa soon joined me and Huan with our usual drinks and a bag of purchases. She set down the drinks and handed me the bag, taking her Poke Balls from me and sitting down. 

We sent the next ten to fifteen minutes in companionable silence. Melissa would sip her Tapu-Coco and pet Kaurai, who was taking a nap on her lap. She was watching the door of the Center and slowly becoming more restless. I spent most of the time sorting my various purchases into my backpack while sipping on my Pinap Juice. Poke Beans went into color-coordinated bags in one of the frontal pockets. Potions and such when into the left side pockets. And Poke Balls went into the right side pockets. After sorting, I played with Huan a bit before Lana came storming into the Pokemon Center. 

Melissa put Kurai on the table and stood up as Lana practically sprinted towards us, stopping just short of our table. I had looked up from where I was playing with Huan on the table when Lana had burst through the doors, blinking up at her from my seated position as she slammed her hands on the table with a wide grin. “Are you guys ready for the start of your island adventure?!” The blue hair teen ignored the glare she got from Melissa and her Eevee as Huan and I giggled at her antics. I nodded to her and stood up, putting on my backpack as I pushed in our chairs and Melissa took our empty cups up to the counter to be washed. She soon came back and said grumpily, “Alright, let’s go. We’ve got just about eight minutes left before our ferry leaves. And the next one isn’t for another four to five hours.” Lana nodded furiously and sprinted for the road as Melissa took my hand and pulled me along after her. I just giggled a bit. 

We were able to arrive at the Ferry Terminal with just a minute to spare and were met with a very anxious employee that just took one look at us before ushering us onto the Ferry bound for Hau’oli City on Melemele Island. Once we were on the Ferry, Lana explained to us that she had called ahead to the Terminal to tell them that the three of them were coming and might either arrive just before the Ferry would leave or just be late. She said that she had planned for the three of them to rent some Ride Pokemon to get them to Melemele Island if they had been late, making Melissa pale at the implications. I just giggled at her expression while looking up at the sky longingly. It would have felt great to fly to Melemele instead of taking the Ferry… 

Melissa smacked the back of my head when she caught me looking up at the sky, giving a light growl since she knew what I was thinking about. I just gave her a placating smile as Lana laughed at Melissa’s disgruntled expression. “Come on, Melissa! Lighten up!” The blue-haired and eyed teenaged Trail Captain laughed at my friend, bringing me into a side hug. Our shoulders bumped into each other, reminding me that we were the same height, even with my heeled riding boots. “Lani is like me! Can’t get enough of the water! Or the sky, in her case!” I giggled, cause that was true. Neither of us could get enough of our chosen element. For me, it was the sky and the wind. For Lana, it was water and the ocean. We just felt that feeling, the tugging that pulled us towards the source of our obsession. 

Lana and I high-fived as she finished her little spiel about the love one can have for an element of nature and the beauty of falling in love with it. Though Melissa didn’t seem very impressed by it. 

Though it wasn’t long after that Melissa had to lay down from seasickness, which always happened when she went out on the sea. I giggled at my miserable friend and moved her head so that it was on my lap, ignoring Lana’s snickering as I took her hat off and placed it beside me. Kurai and Takkā were out and sitting on either Melissa’s stomach or lap for comfort as their Trainer glared at the snickering Trail Captain. I gave a light sigh, Melissa and Lana had never gotten along. 

Looking out the window, I watched as Akala Island got smaller and smaller as we were being Ferried towards Melemele Island. Towards the beginning of my and Melissa’s Island Challenge. I gave a soft smile and began humming and running my fingers through Melissa’s hair, trying to soothe her into sleep. Huan, who was hovering in the seat beside me, joined me and Melissa slowly drifted off. It also worked in quieting Lana’s snickering, which helped a lot in getting Melissa to sleep. It would have been very long next three to four hours if they hadn’t after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. At all. Only my OCs.  
> \--  
> So I'll update when... my muse comes back... sorry...


End file.
